Grand Laureates Lifetime Achievement Award 2024: Daniel S. Goldin

At the 66th Annual Laureates Awards held in Washington on March 14, 2024, Daniel S. Goldin was given the Lifetime Achievement award for his six decades of contributions to the field of space.

Goldin is widely known as the longest-serving administrator of NASA, however, his contributions to the space industry surpass that. He was born and raised in the Bronx, and after graduating from the City College of New York in 1962 with a degree in mechanical engineering, he began his career as a propulsion engineer at NASA Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Goldin then spent 25 years leading cutting-edge national security space projects at TRW (now Northrop Grumman).

In 1992, he was appointed as the NASA administrator. He revitalized the agency by introducing a new mantra of "faster, better, cheaper". During his tenure, he oversaw various significant achievements like the repair of the Hubble Space Telescope, the landing of U.S. rovers on Mars, the redesign and construction of the International Space Station, and formed an international partnership with Russia in the aftermath of the Cold War. He was also responsible for guiding the initial design of the James Webb Space Telescope, where he rejected the early concepts as woefully insufficient.

In a recent episode of the Aviation Week Check 6 podcast, Goldin shared his thoughts on the importance of biology and bioengineering in space exploration. Even years after leaving government service, he was still thinking big. According to Goldin, if we want to establish colonies on the moon, have people living on Mars, and mine asteroids in the near-earth asteroid belt, we need to gain a better understanding of biology and bioengineering.

Congratulations to Daniel S. Goldin for being awarded the Laureates Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his numerous lifetime contributions.